One… small step for humanity… One… giant leap for developer Radiation Blue. And a giant leap it surely is. When I first saw the trailer of Genesis Alpha One, I was wondering if the endeavor that they were trying to put down might be a bit too big for their britches. A gigantic universe for you to explore, base building, resource management, a bit of shooter elements… I had no idea on how they would tackle this. Until now that I finally got the chance to experience this marvel of a game in person. Well ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you. Radiation Blue delivered on their promises and more! Not only did they put down a beautiful game, but they also stuck to their original concept and brought us this rendition! Question, want to discover how this game is, and if it’s worth a purchase? Then put your helmet on, because we’re going on an exploration!
What is good?
- Graphics: The game itself looks absolutely amazing. Countless times I had it happen that when my harvester door opened, I’d be greeted by a thick fog. The only light that shone through, would be the flood light on top of my harvester. Making for a breath-taking environmental sight. The effects in the game, although simplistic, mesh perfectly with the look and feel of the guns, your spacecraft, the robots… Basically everything. The lighting as well! Truly everything that you will encounter, will try to pull you in and create an as submersive possible experience. Not only that, some particular parts of the game will make you think about other franchises in the gaming community. If you have ever played Alien Isolation, you’ll feel a twinge of nostalgia when you operate the computers that are found all around your spaceship. Hell, at one point I thought, wait a minute! Where is the Weyland Yutani logo Team17! Because this just screams Alien! Am I Ellen Ripley?
- Cloning: Part of the game consists of finding that perfect balance between the number of clones that you’ve got, and what kind of clones that you’ll create. Reason for this is that, on every planet you’ll visit, there is alien life. These are hostile and will “swiggity swooty” be coming for that booty. Though if you get to kill them, there is a chance that these will drop alien DNA. This DNA will then be useable, after you found enough DNA that is, for splicing with your human DNA. Basically, creating human hybrid clones. These in turn have different stats, making them more resilient or having increased intelligence, for example. Add on top of those, different types of abilities. You’ll be colonising space with superhumans!
- Replay replay replay!: Genesis is really created with replayability in mind. There are different factions to be unlocked. Each of these factions bring different positives and negatives to how you play. Not only that, you can find alien artefacts that you can bring along on your next play session, to again change how your new session is played out. But wait, there’s more! Your map and starting position change every time as well. So those out there that think that this might not be a lengthy or content rich game. Think again, because there is a LOT to explore here.
- Exploration: Exploring the planets is ENCOURAGED. You could possibly play this game without stepping on one planet if you want, but that would mean that you won’t be getting extra unlocks for your playthrough. There is a chance of finding old technology, alien technology or weaponry on the planet’s surface. I found this a fun twist as you won’t start off overpowered with nothing to research or explore, and just go from point A to B. So, don’t be afraid to drop down on that planet, clone! Who knows… There may be cake? Or death. But I’m pretty sure the death is a lie.
- Butt clenching: Oh man can the game be intense! There’s been more then one occasion that I was clenching my butt cheeks so hard together, that I would’ve had the ability to crack a walnut. The atmosphere the game creates, together with its intense soundtrack and sometimes-hectic happenings, create a perfect amalgamation of terror and be wonderment. I’ve had it happen that I hyper jumped, right into an asteroid field. And believe me… Ship damage is quickly sustained. You’ll have to be quick then to go out and repair your subsystems or fatal collapse of those will ensue. And let these moment just be the perfect time when your brain farts and you forget the entire layout of the ship that you yourself built! Ah adrenaline, how I love that feeling of you rushing through my body.
Mixed Feelings
- Glitchy…?: Ok, keep this in mind. This is an expansive game, nearly everything runs smoothly, and what I’m going to be saying here is not game breaking, just cosmetic stuff. Ok? Okay! There are a few current glitches that I have seen. For instance, in the ship building part, your blueprints would shift and twitch in colours, like they wouldn’t match together. It’d clip through each other until you finally built the part. I’ve also had guns that, when I pulled them out, would be sticking up straight into the air, but when I fired off a shot, or switched to another weapon, it’d be fixed. So really, it’s peanuts. That’s why I put this on the mixed feelings part. It’s not game breaking, at all. Just, a bit of a nuisance. And will be patched out most likely in the future.
- Clones are mute: Your clones are essentially mindless and soulless robots. You can interact with them and they will react to what is happening around them or do their jobs. But that’s it. They won’t really come up to you themselves and suddenly ask a random question or ask help with a certain job. And this feels like such a missed opportunity. These clones could have been used to convey emotion and story. Rather than just be your extra life, boiling down to essentially just being your meat shield. Team17 please give them more substance! Make your clones great again!
What is bad?
- Colour scheme: The colour pallet used here was a bit doubtful. Everything on your craft has a sort of brownish tinge. When I think spacecrafts and spaceships. I think brightly lit sterile corridors and shiny metals. And taking in account of the fact that you are a colonisation ship you might think you’d have such luxury as well. Unfortunately, you drew the short end of the stick and got stuck with crap brown. All in all, not bad but, still, give us at least the option to style our inside look! I don’t want to walk through corridors that remind me of my last toilet visit.
- No space craft interaction: One thing that bummed me out badly was the fact that I could not fly my spacecraft. There are so many planets that have gloomy biomes. Biomes that would have been perfect to be able to fly through. For instance, like a storm or trying to find a good landing spot in a fog covered terrain to park your harvester on. Nor can you really pilot your big space ship. You put in some coordinates on the space map, and press go. It’s just a pity that there is so little space craft interaction or flying action. For well, a SPACE exploration game? Oh well, maybe in the future? I can only hope…
Genesis Alpha One – 80/100
Radiation Blue and Team17 really stuck to their guns and delivered us, what is in my opinion one of the better open world type of exploration and survival game. Survival being not in the sense that if you don’t eat, you die. But rather in the way that, if you don’t farm the correct stuff you eventually run out of fuel and people. This game just tickles that sci-fi bone deep inside of my body and makes me giddy just thinking about what kind opportunities and possibilities are ahead of me in this expansive universe. I truly hope that they will continue to build upon what they have already set in stone here, and bring us more factions, extra enemy types and even more biomes for us to explore. For those who loved games like No Man Sky, Subnautica and others, this will be exactly up your alley! Already one of my favourite games of 2019! Not game of the year, but an excellent experience, that’s for sure. Though maybe not for everyone. It fills a certain niche, but it does its o so well! So, astronauts, have fun out there, and don’t fly into the sun!